In most films with Asian American actors, Aneesh said, “You usually have to explain — what is the Asian hook? Like, why is this family Asian?” But in Searching, he said, “there’s nothing about this film that explains it.”

That an actor of any race could have played the lead, John added, is precisely the point. “The fact that it doesn’t have to be an Asian-American film makes me want to claim it as an Asian-American film,” he said.

Also, key takeaway: No vlogging. Ever.

Semi-spoiler alert: Does that intro rival Up, or what? I sort of wish I had been given an emotional heads-up beforehand!

I’ll post a more robust review soon (hopefully!), but for now I’ll say this: Kathy Khang is the real deal and Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up reflects her authenticity and passion. Particularly in this surreal age in which we live, silence is not an option for people of good faith and good will. As Elie Wiesel says, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Not too long ago, while waiting to pick up my coffee, I overheard a conversation a Starbucks barista was having with a customer about movies. The customer was enthusiastically into pretty much all kinds of movies, but particularly post-apocalyptic films.

The barista perked up at mention of this genre, saying, “Yeah, I appreciate those kinds of films because they’re really about the human condition.”

“Yeah, totally. Like, how would you survive a zombie attack?”

Judging by the look on the barista’s face, I’d say it’s a safe bet to guess that’s not what he meant. I’d put my money on something in the ballpark of this or that.

Genres like sci-fi can use devices like Cylons to explore deeper questions about what it means to be human. That, and the awesome outer space pew-pew-pew fights.

. . . . .

There’s something so creepy about abandoned amusement parks:

[I’m not 100% sure who to credit for the photo below: I found it via a search for “abandoned roller coasters”]

Clearly, blogging has not been a favorite of mine this year (although I should resolve to commit myself to more regular writing in the new year. I need to take a Buddy the Elf kind of approach to blogging: I just like to blog. Blogging’s my favorite.)

While this was a bad year for apocalyptic predictions, it was a good year for movie explosions. And my enjoyment of films is almost always directly proportional to the number of onscreen pyrotechnics. Three cheers for The Avengers, Looper, and The Dark Knight Rises. I greatly enjoyed watching Wreck-It Ralph with my family, and trying to explain all of the old-school gaming references to my daughter.

2012 was also a good year for old guys getting the band back together for the purpose of melting faces.

I missed Refused the first time around back in the late 90s, but managed to catch them twice this year. I even managed to keep both my contact lenses in for the second show! Their genuine gratitude at being given a second chance to perform and their energetic approach to playing reminded me why I love punk rock.

Quicksand played a short, but mean set at the FYF Fest — it was worth kicking around in the dust to catch them (I’m really stoked to see them again in January!).

And, while it wasn’t the Drive Like Jehureunion show I’ve been pining away for, I was blown away by SD’s own Hot Snakes at the Casbah. It took two drummers to maintain the intensity of their barn-burning punk set.

Not all my live music events were reunions shows, though. There was also the Christmas Unicorn:

. . . . .

And now, a few of my favorite albums released in 2012, alphabetically:

This summer, somehow, I ended up seeing more films than I have in the past five or six years combined. Since most of these films were from the summer-blockbuster variety (Star Trek, Wolverine, GI Joe, etc.) I ended up seeing many of the same trailers over and over. I feel like I’ve already seen some of those films, even though they haven’t been released.

However, it might have been before District 9(which was super-intense, by the way; I’m stressed just remembering it!), I saw this lovely trailer for Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are:

While it might lack the immediate appeal to adults or older kids that, say, VeggieTales might have (with their Monty Python-referencing irreverence, snappy one-liners and fully-orchestrated songs), we have found that the little ones in our church enjoy Max Lucado’s animated Hermie series. My six-year old daughter was pretty excited to receive our copy of Skeeter and the Mystery of the Lost Mosquito Treasurefor review.

First up, the first South Korean film to show at Sundance, Old Partner is a documentary about the unique bond between an elderly farmer and his cow. It might sound strange at first, but read the description below and watch the trailer for yourself. It looks like a lovely film…